Global Glitter Tribe December Linky

Hey everyone! I'm linking up with the GGT for the December linky and I must say that I really love the graphic this month! If you'd like to link up with us, please click on the button below to get your graphic, add your text, write your post and join in the fun!

Here goes nothin': 

First up, one of the easiest recipes you can make that will serve a family of four or can be doubled or tripled to serve a crowd is my Crockpot Chicken Tacos. Take a look:


One of my favorite holiday read alouds is Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto. I love this book because in my family we usually fight over the tamales because they are so delicious. You know you are loved when someone brings their tamales out of hiding to serve to you. In fact, this weekend we made 18 dozen tamales but we have to split them between four families, so we really don't have too many tamales...

I've been so lucky the past two years because I have been getting some great technology to work with in my classroom. As of yesterday, I am officially a 1:1 teacher! I just got 10 more iPads and now I have 24! One of the things I love is using nearpod. It is a lesson presentation system that pushes out content to your students' devices (tablets OR computers). You control the pace of the lesson slides and the students engage in interactive activities, quizzes, polls, videos, questions and more. The most awesome thing is that when they answer a question or do an activity, the results show up in real time on your device! I can instantly see who is really understanding the concepts or who needs more help. I can also send examples of student work to each device so we can have discussions. My explanation can't do it justice so you should check it out for yourself. You can sign up for free and there are many free nearpod presentations plus you can make your own!! Here's a sample of the presentations I have in my library.


I was preview shopping last month before the big sales and wandered into Bath and Body Works to pick out some scents for my daughters. I almost always shop online but you can't smell the scents online so I actually went to the mall...gasp! I totally fell in love with this new scent and then I couldn't decide which daughter to give it to so I bought it for myself!!! It's called Fresh Sparkling Snow and it just smells SOOO good.

I'm doing a book study at school with Ron Clark's Move Your Bus, which is totally motivating the leader in me and kinda frustrating me at the same time. The concept is that your organization is a bus and instead of having an engine, the bus is propelled with the power of the people. Now, on your bus you have runners, joggers, walkers and riders plus (hopefully) a driver. I love Ron's description of the different types of workers and now I can't help but to constantly think if I'm being a runner or not. Check it out for yourself:

When it snows around here in the desert (which it occasionally does) people freak out! I'm not kidding or exaggerating when I tell you that everyone expects a snow day when we get one inch of snow. We make tiny muddy snowmen and put on our winter gear and play around until about 2:00 in the afternoon when it melts. I'm a summer girl. Flip flops. Tank tops. Hot weather. Bring it on! I do not like to be cold so you can bet that if it snows, I'll be bundled up inside, fire roaring, sipping hot cocoa. I can enjoy how pretty it looks from inside. Here's a picture I took last year when we did actually get a good amount of snow (for us):

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading my post and encourage you to link up or check out some other posts!

Guided Math in Action Book Study: Chapter 9

This is the last chapter in the Guided Math in Action book study hosted by the ladies at Adventures in Guided Math. I really loved this last chapter because it got me excited to organize my math block just in time for school to start on August 13. I have been sketching out my super huge math focus wall and working on planning for the first weeks of school. This chapter is all about the first 20 days of implementing math workshop.

Focus Wall

I am lucky enough to be team teaching this year so I really don't have to worry about teaching Language Arts and I can completely focus on math. Yay me! I am dedicating one huge bulletin board to my math focus wall. I plan to have a place for vocabulary, number of the day, featured anchor charts, informational mini posters (like the ones inspired by chapter 2), math center organization and rules and a spot for the number of the day. I do calendar and number of the day on my interactive white board but I like to post the actual number of the day on the bulletin board.

Math Block Schedule

This is really going to change! I used to start with the Number of the Day and Calendar but because it is so repetitive it would lull my kiddos' brains into sleep mode. This year, I'm starting with either an energizer or a number talk (see chapter 2 for more info) to get their brains pumped up and ready! Next, I'll dive right into my mini lesson followed by the problem of the day and independent practice. Then, we'll start math centers and finish with Calendar and Number of the Day routines before I send them off to lunch or recess. I'm going to have to be really focused and on top of my schedule because I only have 90 minutes! I'm also using interactive math notebooks as part of the mini lesson or as math centers (for the simple ones).

We Need to Talk!

I'm going to spend way more time listening to students and less time talking.  I know it will be uncomfortable and awkward at first, but I have realized how important it is. I will have to teach them how to answer, and especially, ask questions about math. Click the pic to get your free Math Thinking Prompts.

Show Me

I'm going to make sure students can show me their understanding in multiple ways. One way is to use the 4 Ways to Solve a Problem graphic organizer I mentioned in Chapter 7's post, which you can download for free by clicking on the pic.

Another way students can demonstrate understanding is by using an iPad app called Explain Everything. See a tutorial about this app by the amazing April from Appsolutely April.You can assign a problem to solve and students can record their voices and annotations as they solve the problem. I think this would be valuable evidence to show parents at conferences. I want students to feel so comfortable explaining (or defending) their thinking that it becomes second nature. I know I will have to work hard to accomplish this and creating the right environment is where I'll start. See my post from Chapters 1 & 2 for more info.

Anchors Away!

Since my focus is on math this year, I'll have more space to display anchor charts. When making an anchor chart I often have a framework for what I want it to contain and then ask students to help me fill in the details. Since I usually do these on my interactive white board, I can save them and bring them up when needed. If we make a really great one that should be displayed for a longer period, I will often type it up and make a mini poster out of it so that students can access it when they need to. 

Well, that is the start of my plans for my math block this year. My district adopted a new math program and I'll have to incorporate it into my plans as well. I'm really looking forward to this year and have learned so much thanks to this book study!

An InLinkz Link-up

Guided Math in Action Book Study: Chapter 8

Wow, just one more chapter after this one in this awesome book study with the gals from Guided Math in Action! I have learned so much and can't wait to apply it to my math block this year. Today's chapter is about one of my passions in math: centers. I love doing centers and it is probably my favorite part of the day. 

Seriously, this is the biggest question people have when thinking about doing any type of small group. I have mentored several first year (and experienced) teachers and this is the part that gets them. They are either afraid to give up control of the whole group or don't have good systems and expectations in place to make sure students are on task.  This chapter covers a lot of the basics and would be a good place to send hesitant teachers to get ideas on implementing math centers.

My students L-O-V-E math center time. They get really upset if something disrupts our schedule or keeps us from doing them, which is rare. Our stations run like clockwork. Everyone knows what to do, how to do it and where everything goes. It doesn't magically happen though, and I spend a good amount of time at the beginning of the year working with my class on our system. When people observe my math center time, they have many questions for me:

How are centers organized?
I keep almost all my centers in gallon zip top bags. Each center has instructions or rules, any materials they'll need and is labeled on the bag. I laminate things so I can use them again and again. I keep my centers organized by topics such as time, money, addition, subtraction, graphing. I also have about a dozen math board games I got funded from a project I posted on Donor's Choose. Those are stored on top of my cabinet. The centers students will be using for the week are placed in large buckets in a central location in the classroom. They are labeled so kids can grab and go back to their desks to work. Some of my other centers are cut and paste pages or other printables and are stored in files on my computer.

How I store my math centers.

Where do I get my centers? What types of centers do I use?
I get many of my centers from TpT but I also make my own, which you can check out here. I like to have a variety of activities so kids don't get tired of them. I have board games, dice & card games, folder games, QR code centers, task cards, printables, cut and paste pages, foldables, and plain old fact fluency pages. I also use technology as much as possible because it is so engaging. I have great software from Lakeshore, carefully cultivated math game apps for iPads, and online games. Kids do not get to have a free for all on technology. They are required to play certain games (that I specify) on certain weeks. For example, when we studied shapes and attributes, the kids used a Geoboard app on the iPads (no flying rubber bands!) to create shapes with certain attributes with a partner. They could play The Allowance Game, from Lakeshore, on the interactive white board when we worked on money. My students especially love QR codes centers. Check out my Telling Time and QR Codes freebie. Students solve the problems on the task cards, write the answers on their recording sheet (accountability!) and then can use a device to scan the QR codes to check their answers. They get immediate feedback!

How do I make sure students are engaged?
First of all, my centers have to be at students' levels. They need to be varied and fun, too. Some centers are no talking (independent) centers, some are partner games, and others are small groups (4-6). They also need to finish certain centers and turn them in for accountability (see below).

What do students do if they finish a center?
I go to the library every 2-3 weeks and pick up math books that are about the topics we're studying. If students finish everything early, they know to grab a math book and read quietly at their desk. I try to find a large range of texts to keep students interested. They might be math stories such as Math for All Seasons by Greg Tang or informational books with great pictures. My students also love the Math Start series because they are written at their level.

For my advanced students or early finishers I have a few challenge pages each week. They can work on these to get extra points on Class Dojo for the week. 

How often do I do centers?  How does center time work?
I do centers 4 days a week (we release early on Wednesday so that is catch up and fix it day) and I change the centers twice a week. I have six centers (one of which is my group) and we rotate every 12-15 minutes. Students do three centers a day and must try to get to all 6 centers after two days. My rule is that if they haven't finished the center they are on, they must "pull over" and finish before moving on. I try to put a highly engaging/popular/fun center after a lesser fun one as a motivation to finish. Student groups are color coded and rotate according to the chart below:

If a student sits at the orange table, they start with the activity there and then move to the yellow table when I ring the bell. On the 2nd day, they start at the next table where they left off. At the beginning of math centers I send the table captain from each table to get their materials. The kids must clean up whatever station they end on and put materials away before they are dismissed to recess. This runs like clockwork because I spend the first several weeks teaching procedures before I even start my own group. We also sometimes have to review procedures mid year. Students know that they have to meet my expectations during center time or the fun games will go away until they can be responsible.

How often does a center repeat?
Some of my centers repeat. I have no problem with kids playing fact fluency games many times throughout the year. They go crazy with Addition Battle (or Subtraction Battle), which is played with a deck of cards like War, but the first person to say the sum of the cards gets the cards. Also, they can play the board games, computer games, software games and app games several times because it is different each time. Some centers are done only once, while others are done a few times. Often, I'll bring an old center back as a review.

How do I keep students accountable? How do I manage their work?
Many centers have what I call an accountability piece. It is just some type of paper that students would turn in. These may include recording sheets for task cards or a dice/card game, a printable or worksheet, a quick exit slip, or even a screen shot of their work or score on the iPad. If a student has an accountability piece to turn in, they must put them in a marked basket. I collect these every two days and look them over. These become part of their Fix It Packet on Wednesday.

Students also hold each other accountable for completing work correctly, not cheating, or copying. I work hard to teach them strategies for working out a problem while playing a game and that they must work things out or I'll shut down the game. They learn not to disrupt my group and come to value the uninterrupted time they get to spend with me while others are working.

So, this was a very long post. Believe me, it could have been longer! I hope you stuck with me for the whole thing because I'm doing a giveaway! Comment below and I will choose one person to win a math item of your choice from my store!

Also, check out what everyone else had to say:

An InLinkz Link-up

Guided Math in Action Book Study: Chapter 7

I'm linking up with the lovely ladies at Adventures in Guided Math for Chapter 7 of our book study. I have loved this opportunity to reflect on my teaching practice and hear what other teachers have to say. Read all the way through for two little freebies! 

If you're following along, here's the schedule:

Before I answer any discussion questions, I must say how much the story at the beginning of the chapter hit me. I teach 2nd grade and don't always get a glimpse of what happens in the upper grades when students fall behind grade level proficiency. It is so important to meet kids at their level and teach from there.

One of the biggest things I work on in 2nd grade is place value. It is the very first unit I teach and I spend a great deal of time on it. It is one of the conceptual building blocks for the rest of the year. I can teach students procedures for adding with regrouping but it doesn't help them if they don't understand place value. 

I spent so much time last year thinking about how my students solve problems. We were required to give district math tests that were completely open response. We all felt frustrated by the fact that our students could get the correct answer but didn't always have coherent ways of demonstrating how they got an answer and would lose points on the rubric. I have decided that I need to spend much more time having students show their thinking in multiple ways. Our instructional coach showed us a sheet that can be used with any problem, in any grade. I couldn't find it, so I made my own that you can get here for free:

At the beginning, I will have students try one way on their own. After we share different ways, I will have them write down what other students shared. Gradually, they'll work their way up to writing 4 ways on their own. I think this tool would really help facilitate discussions and serve as an informal assessment or exit slip. It is also differentiated because it is open-ended and allows students to work at their level. You could also give different levels of problems based on what students are working on. I really hope this helps students struggle less with describing their thinking this year.

**Side note** Dr. Nicki Newton has given me permission to share the Math Thinking Prompts I blogged about from Chapter 2. You can get them by clicking here or on the picture. 

Check out what others have said about Chapter 7:

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Guided Math in Action Book Study: Chapters 3 & 4

I'm linking up with Sarah and Courtney at Adventures in Guided Math for a book study on Guided Math 

in Action by Dr. Nicki Newton. So far, this book has been full of information and ideas that I'm taking to my classroom in less than a month (yikes!). Today we're focusing on Chapters 3 & 4. Dr. Newton estimates that we may spend about 40 hours a year dealing with pencil issues. She suggests sharpening a few hundred before school starts. I better get cracking! 

I have a 3 drawer Sterilite organizer full of math tools. I think they're pretty cheap at WalMart.

I have everything I would need for math workshop in those drawers! I have analog clocks, plastic coins, all types of counters and dice, number lines and grids, laminated sheets for practicing various skills, decks of cards, dry erase boards, markers, erasers, task cards and other miscellaneous supplies. I keep counters, coins, and dice in small snack size zip top bags so I can just grab a bag to give to a student. I have a weird passion for dice. I love this set because it has all types of dice with different numbers.

 I also give each student a set of paper base 10 blocks to keep in their desks. When students need other materials, such as rulers, snap cubes, geoboards, pattern blocks or measuring tapes, they can access those items from open storage bins. Often, when a math station calls for specific items such as counters or dice, I will make sure those items are already in the gallon zip top bag with the directions, task cards, games or recording sheets. I try to make it so that kids have what they need at their fingertips so they have less reason to roam. When it is time to clean up, students are expected to return all materials to their bags or bins. They must work together to clean up before they can head out to recess. I also have teamwork points on the board that I can award to the cleanest group, the first to be cleaned up, or for helping others, etc. It works like a charm!

I meet with students in small group a lot! Some of my groups are homogeneous, while others are heterogeneous. When students go through their math stations, they are mixed abilities. They support each other and work at their own pace. I see each of these groups twice a week. This is a time when I'm assessing, reteaching or preteaching. Sometimes, I use this time to teach a new game that will be an independent station the following week. I have 5 groups, but 6 stations. This allows me to do three rounds per day (12-15 minutes per round). My stations last for two days, but many activities or games are repeated at other times. For example, students may play Addition War for three weeks.

I meet with my intervention group daily. This is a group with similar abilities, but it is very flexible. Sometimes it will be just 2 students, and other times it will grow to 7. I also have a time of day when students are practicing a skill after the mini lesson. I invite students to work with me if they feel they need it. Some just come up for a few problems and realize they don't need my help. Some stay the entire time. Some decide on their own to come over and others need to be invited. It is the most flexible group and I meet with them daily.

During small group (or during transition to the next group) I jot down notes about students and stick them on a clipboard. At the end of the day, I'll stick them in students' math file folders. I keep more specific data on the students in my intervention group.  I have a binder with tabs for the students in the intervention group. I place my quick assessments and any other anecdotal information in this binder that may align with their intervention goals. This is a freebie from Amanda Hill that can be used in a data binder:

I also like the Waterfall Index Card Chart discussed on pages 46 and I think I will explore that option during the year as well. The most important thing is that you pick a system that you will actually use. It needs to be simple, easy to maintain, and meet your needs.

Check out what my fellow bloggers had to say about Chapters 3 & 4. I can't wait to read them all and get some good ideas. See you soon for Chapter 5!

An InLinkz Link-up

Guided Math in Action Book Study: Chapter 6

I'm linking up with Adventures in Guided Math for Chapter 6 of our book study on Guided Math in Action by Dr. Nicki Newton. 

Question #1

I have a love-hate relationship with lesson plan templates. I'm always trying to find just the right template that will give me the information I need while being VERY easy to use, fill out, and keep up with. I have tried countless lesson plan templates for guided reading over the years and I've found that the type I'm most likely to keep up with is very simple, has skills and activities built in that I can just highlight or circle. I can't stand typing or writing the same things over and over again. I won't typically change my groups every week so I will fill out student names, standards, and concepts/skills and make a few copies of the template so I won't have to write them in each day. I tend to write in pencil so I can make adjustments without having to get to my computer.
I don't necessarily have a lesson plan template that I love for guided math, yet. I do like Dr. Nicki's templates on pages 77-80 and in the back of the book on pages 138-9. Perhaps I can create a hybrid template that meets all my needs for efficiency, simplicity and functionality. I found a freebie by Pam & Tara I like:

And another by Owl Star Teaching:

Question #2
When I'm working with my small groups, I always introduce a concept using concrete (manipulatives), pictorial (drawings) and abstract (equations) simultaneously. However, I start the students with manipulatives while I demonstrate the other two. For example, I will ask a student to use their base ten blocks to make a number. I will then draw a picture of their blocks ( modeling good organization and vocabulary) and the number on my dry erase board. When I ask the student to take away a quantity, I will also cross out the picture representation. I don't erase because it doesn't show a record of the action taken. Finally, students will count their blocks and then I will count my picture, adding in the numerical information and writing an equation. Eventually, I will phase over to having students draw pictures while I support with manipulatives (if necessary) and writing the equations on my board. When I see regression, I always have the manipulatives handy to support students' conceptual understanding. Some students fly through these transitions, quickly making the connections from conceptual to abstract. Many others are reluctant to give up their manipulatives or drawings (or counting  fingers!) to transition to the abstract level. The key is knowing when to push students and when to support. I think you just really need to know your kids and the best way is having a consistent routine of meeting with students in small groups.

Another example of transitioning students through the levels is when they learn to count coins. At first, you give them the coins (either plastic or actual). When I'm drawing pictorial representations of coins, I begin by drawing a circle with the value of the coin inside and then move to using a letter to represent the coin. Many students will naturally start to drop the circle and just use either the letter representation or a numerical representation, and eventually move to writing equations. This is something I model while students are at the concrete and pictorial stages.

Boy! I still have so much to think about in regards to planning! I think I will make a hybrid of all the lesson planning templates I've seen that will fit my needs best. The most important thing is that I do make a conscious effort to plan and the best way to do that is to have a functional template that doesn't require a great deal of time to fill out.

See you all soon for Chapter 7: Building Mathematical Proficiency in Guided Math Groups.

An InLinkz Link-up

Guided Math in Action book study Ch. 1 & 2

I'm so excited to share what I learned from reading the first two chapters in Guided Math in Action. I'm linking up with Sarah and Courtney from Adventures in Guided Math for this awesome book study. If you read her post, you'll see that Sarah and I had the same idea. Great minds think alike!

One of the ways I promote perseverance in my classroom is what I call "Fix it Wednesday". I return checked work to students and they have to make corrections to it. The goal is for students to learn from their mistakes and independently work through problems they are having. They can get frustrated at times. They struggle. They whine. They fuss.

I stand my ground and they begin to learn. While the majority of students are working on their "Fix it" packets, I have the opportunity to work closely with a few students who are having misconceptions or need reteaching. I assign a few students as "experts" (usually students with few errors) to walk around and support other students. I have carefully trained them to never give answers, but to ask leading questions instead. This is also a time I invite parent or community volunteers to assist with checking work so I can focus on my small group. Students in my class learn that I never give away answers and they will be expected to work through their problems.

I was surprised to find that my "old" math block is quite similar to the block suggested in Chapter 2. I start with calendar and number of the day routines and then transition to whole group mini lesson. Finally, I launch into math stations and meet with my groups. I spend quite a bit of time at the beginning of the year establishing norms, routines, and procedures for math so that it will run smoothly even if I have a sub. I have also been thinking about how to get my kids talking about math more. Here's what I've learned:

I often ask students to turn to an elbow partner to share their ideas, problems, strategies or answers. Each child can share what he or she said OR what their partner said.  I often tell them to share their strategy without giving away the answer so it gives respect to different ways of solving problems. Giving students think time and letting them bounce ideas off a partner or in a small group is much easier for some students that participating in a whole group discussion. I praise students who learn from their mistakes! I make a huge deal about their learning process so they aren't afraid to share. I will sometimes have groups solve challenging problems together. Each one has a role so that everyone is participating and learning. These are usually problems they would not be able to solve easily by themselves. Finally, my students know that they will each have a turn to lead/teach the calendar or number of the day routines. It is so great to hear them ask each other questions.

Next year, however, I want add a few things to make my math block even better. First, I want to start with an "Energizer", which is explained as a quick game to get students' minds thinking about numbers. The example in the book is a game called, "I'm thinking of a number". I have played this game in the past to fill a few minutes here and there, but I'm really thinking it would be a great way to start each math block. One thing I'm also going to add are Math Thinking Prompts (p. 16) that I'll display around the room. I often ask students to tell me why they got an answer and they often change their answer, rather than defend it. Here's a picture of some of the prompts I'll post in my room (you can grab them here for free!):

An InLinkz Link-up